Thursday, January 07, 2010

Saudi Economy is Affected Due to Weak IPR Regime

Third symposium on the laws of the intellectual property rights opened Tuesday at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry .The two-day symposium under the title: "Litigation and Compensation In Intellectual Property Rights, organized on 6th and 7th January 2010 by Saudi Law Training Center (SLTD) discussed the issues pertaining to intellectual property rights including: patent, trademarks, copy rights, the settlement of cases and other issues. "The intellectual property rights, with its two divisions of arts and industry, is an integral part of human life in science, culture, food, medicine, engineering, electronics, furniture, perfumes, clothes and others.

As per the speakers in the symposium "he excessive number of organizations allowed to rule on issues concerning intellectual property rights in the Kingdom has weakened the application of laws and regulations concerning it" and the aggression against the intellectual property rights cost the Saudi economy billions of riyals every year . Local and foreign experts have participated in the symposium being organized by the SLTC in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Information. The center has signed agreements and MOUs with a number of universities and law centers in various parts of the world in order to exchange expertise and trainees.

The bodies concerned with issues relating to intellectual property rights in Saudi Arabia included the Ministries of Culture and Information, Commerce and Industry, Rural and Municipal Affairs, the Department of Customs, King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology and the Court of Grievances. There are more than 100,000 cases of intellectual property rights now being investigated by all these bodies. This has prolonged the litigation period and made it difficult to follow up the cases. The ministry had established a committee on copyrights under the chairmanship of the undersecretary of the ministry; the committee is composed of experts in law, Islamic Shariah and information and is charged with protecting the material and moral rights of authors and writers.